A8s vs A6s: preflop equity

Dealt all in against each other, A8s takes 64.41% of the pot on average and A6s takes the other 35.59%.

A8s

64.41%

Wins 55.16%, ties 18.49%

A6s

35.59%

Wins 26.35%, ties 18.49%

Equity counts a tie as half a win. Exact over every board.

A8s against A6s: the numbers

Exact preflop results for A8s against A6s, in percent
HandWinsTiesLosesEquity
A8s55.16318.48926.34864.408
A6s26.34818.48955.16335.592

Each side holds one of the suited hands: A8s and A6s. Because the hands share one rank, the one with the higher kicker is ahead when that rank pairs and the other hand is mostly drawing.

A 28.82 point lead is real, and A6s still takes about 263 of every 1,000 deals outright. The tie share is 18.49%: on those boards the pot is chopped and neither hand wins outright.

Among the 169 starting hands, A8s is number 21 and A6s is number 31 by strength against a random hand.

Boards behind the percentages: 20,547,648 counted in all
HandBoards won, aboutBoards tied, aboutBoards lost, about
A8s11,335,0003,799,0005,414,000
A6s5,414,0003,799,00011,335,000

The board total is exact, 12 deals at 1,712,304 boards each. Won, tied and lost counts are rounded to the nearest thousand from the five-decimal percentages.

A8s against A6s read as odds
HandEquity as odds (to 1)Wins one deal inLoses one deal inPot odds needed to call (to 1)
A8s1.8101.8133.7950.553
A6s0.5533.7951.8131.810

The final column gives the least the pot must offer for each unit called for a call to break even at this equity.

Who is ahead on which flops

Across the five flop textures A8s' equity moves by 7.62 points, from 59.69% on paired flops to 67.31% on rainbow flops topped by a ten or better. A8s stays ahead on all five textures.

A8s against A6s by flop texture, in percent
FlopShare of flopsA8s winsTiesA6s winsA8s equity
Rainbow, ten or higher24.52657.74019.13923.12167.310
Rainbow, nine or lower6.38364.1304.24631.62466.253
Two-tone46.54357.66414.30728.02964.817
Monotone5.21553.94713.18332.87060.539
Paired17.33341.86435.64322.49359.686

Read the flop types this way: rainbow has three suits, two-tone has two cards of one suit, monotone has three, and paired repeats a rank.

Compared with a random hand

A random hand would give A8s 61.94% and A6s 59.91%. Against each other the change is +2.47 points for A8s and -24.32 for A6s.

A8s and A6s here compared with each against a random hand, in percent
CaseEquity hereAgainst a random handChange in pointsTimes the random-hand equity
A8s, all flops64.40861.944+2.4641.03978
A8s, rainbow, ten or higher67.31061.944+5.3661.08663
A8s, rainbow, nine or lower66.25361.944+4.3091.06956
A8s, two-tone64.81761.944+2.8731.04638
A8s, monotone60.53961.944-1.4050.97732
A8s, paired59.68661.944-2.2580.96355
A6s, all flops35.59259.906-24.3140.59413
A6s, rainbow, ten or higher32.69059.906-27.2160.54569
A6s, rainbow, nine or lower33.74759.906-26.1590.56333
A6s, two-tone35.18359.906-24.7230.58730
A6s, monotone39.46159.906-20.4450.65872
A6s, paired40.31459.906-19.5920.67295

Does a shared suit matter?

Every legal deal of A8s against A6s leaves the hands with no suit in common, so the suit split does not apply here.

A8s against A6s by suit overlap, in percent
DealsSpecific dealsShare of dealsA8s winsTiesA6s winsA8s equity
Share a suit00.00not possiblenot possiblenot possiblenot possible
No shared suit12100.0055.16318.48926.34864.408

How often this matchup comes up

Exactly 12 specific deals fit this matchup in one seat order, which is 0.0007% of 1,624,350; both orders together give 24, or 0.0015%.

A worked example

To see what the equity is worth, imagine $100 each in a $200 pot. A8s is worth $128.82 on average (+$28.82); A6s is worth $71.18 (-$28.82).

In 1,000 deals of exactly this matchup, expect about 552 won outright by A8s, about 263 won outright by A6s and about 185 split.

The same matchup from the other side

One page covers both views. From A6s' side the equity is 35.59%, and from A8s' side it is 64.41%.

The calculator link fills in As8s against Ah6h, a deal where the two hands share no suit. Change any card to test your own hand. The neighboring matchups below swap one of the two hands for one of similar strength.

How this was computed

All 1,712,304 five-card boards are dealt for every suit pattern among the 12 specific deals of A8s against A6s, and both hands are scored on each. That is a full count, so the percentages are exact. Ties are half a win each, and each board appears once per flop it contains.

Source: our own exact count from the GeorgeLiPoker poker math library. No outside data is used.

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